WE ARE FACING a seismic shift in the mental health of an entire generation. Children today are grappling with profound emotional and mental distress: According to the CDC, one in three high school students experienced such persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past year that they couldn’t participate in their regular activities. And […]
Health Care
Posted inOpinion
Direct care workers made my sister feel part of a family
NURSING HOMES AND OTHER FACILITIES that employ direct care staff are experiencing unprecedented job vacancies and difficulty recruiting and retaining skilled workers. My job in healthcare real estate gives me a window into this world, where an organization’s ability to safely provide care relies on these often-undervalued workers who nonetheless are passionate about this rewarding […]
Posted inOpinion
Get rid of the copay accumulator
HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS wake up every day with their patients’ wellbeing on their mind. Having worked in nursing for over 30 years, I know first-hand the personal pride we take in our work. Our primary concern is how to best treat patients, but unfortunately cost always lingered in the back of my mind – especially […]
Posted inHealth Care
3 key steps for moving forward with telehealth
AT THE OUTSET of the pandemic, payers, policymakers, and providers at the local, state, and national levels rallied to rapidly expand the financial and technological infrastructure around telemedicine services. Such coordinated responses were critical to ensuring sustained, high-value, high-quality care for patients across our nation. Massachusetts specifically engaged several future-oriented telehealth services to better serve […]
Posted inOpinion
Atrius sale to Optum will yield health conversion foundation
THE LOCAL NONPROFIT Atrius Health physician practice organization has been cleared for sale to national for-profit Optum Health, a subsidiary of investor-owned United Healthcare. Legally, the proceeds must be directed toward charitable purposes. We each run health conversion foundations and know that conversions can continue the health legacy of their prior organizations and be forces […]
Posted inOpinion
Public health is at a crossroads
This article was originally published in Harvard Public Health. NOW ENTERING the fourth year of a historic pandemic, the US public health system is at a crossroads. COVID-19 has exposed major weaknesses in our defenses against infectious diseases. Pre-pandemic, the US was thought to be the country best prepared to manage an infectious disease outbreak; […]
Posted inOpinion
3 steps for addressing health equity in Mass.
MAURA HEALEY made history when she was sworn in as the 73rd governor of Massachusetts. She will have no shortage of challenges to tackle in the early days of her administration—but it is critical that she places health equity at the top of her list. For generations, marginalized communities in Massachusetts and across the nation […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Health Care, Opinion
Medicaid should cover the incarcerated
THERE IS AN UNSPOKEN and growing public health crisis in our country. For millions of Americans with serious health care needs, their treatment is not being provided at a hospital or clinic, but at the county jail. Many outside of this field do not know that the social determinants of becoming involved in the justice […]
Posted inOpinion
What’s causing the boarding crisis in hospitals?
“THEY’RE COMING in quiet,” the announcement said. They were the emergency medical technicians aboard the ambulance bringing Justice Thompson* from a hospital psychiatric unit to his first day at The Guild School. Though the ambulance siren was muted, there was nothing quiet about Justice’s arrival at The Guild. Two EMTs wheeled in a gurney holding […]
Posted inOpinion
Take pregnant people seriously, support birth centers
I RECENTLY RECEIVED a call from a pregnant friend. She felt that her prenatal visits with her obstetrician were a waste of her time. In the last visit, the OB had rattled off a series of dire complications that “had never occurred to her” but were possible. Seeking a different approach, she asked her obstetrician […]